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Some of the intrepid 161'ers the day before the race |
“Trail running is a dangerous sport, and
ultra trail running is the extreme version of it, because the nature of the
playground is wild and sometimes, like here in the Rann, quite inhospitable.”
These are the words of Gaël
Couturier, race director of Run The Rann, a set of a four events staged
simultaneously last weekend on the “island” of Khadir Bet, in Gujurat province
in western India, some 30km from the border with Pakistan. Known as the Thar
Desert, the area forms a part of the Great Rann of Kutch, a 7,500km2
salt marsh, said to be the largest salt desert in the world. The region is
desolate, sparsely populated and, in the northern section of the island, completely
uninhabited.
I was privileged to be one of 12 people
invited to participate in the 100 miler, hosted by the Gujurat Commission of
Tourism to promote the race to the global trail running fraternity.
(Unfortunately two of them didn’t make it – their visas couldn’t be processed
in time.)
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(L to R) Josh, me, Mimi, Tarmo, Justin, Damian, Tom (pic by Justin Bowyer) |
My fellow runners were certainly a
“well-heeled” bunch from a sporting perspective – collectively, their sporting
achievements were enough to shake the dust out of any elite competitor’s socks.
- Dan Lawson, ultra
distance athlete with a host of incredible achievements to his name, including
the World Record for the furthest distance run on a treadmill (521 miles in 7
days). He has a host of race wins, including the 24 hour track race in
Gloucestor in 2014, where he achieved 242km. (Read about Dan HERE)
- Damian Stoy, coach,
biomechanics specialist, nutritional consultant and professional ultra runner
from Montana, USA (http://wholisticrunning.com)
- Mimi Anderson, queen of
ultra-distance running, Mimi has two world records (previously three) to her
name, and has won countless ultras around the world, many of them outright,
including the 6633 Extreme Ultra Marathon, a 352 mile non-stop self-sufficient
race in the Arctic, setting a course record that is yet to be beaten: 143hrs
23min. She remains the only woman to have completed the race. (Read my blog on Mimi HERE)
- Tom Caughlan, ultra runner from
Colorado, USA, Tom is one of the gear reviewers on irunfar.com, specialising in
minimalist models
- Justin Bowyer, ultra runner and
contributor to Runner’s World UK. Author of Running:
Motivation, Nutrition & Hydration. Editor of www.runningmonkey.co.uk
- Tarmo Vannas, a
fruitarian/vegan ultra runner from Estonia, now living in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
- Walter Batel, a French
endurance athlete with 12 Ironman and an MDS to his name
- Francois-Xavier Gaudas, an
ultra-runner from France
About 100 runners toed the start line for
the four races of Run The Rann – 21km, 42km, 101km and the 161km. Most were
from India, and many were from other countries around the world. Being the
inaugural event, there were just 14 of us doing the 161km.
Having visited India on two previous
occasions, I knew not to expect predictability. By its very nature, India is
alive, vibrant, buzzing, quirky, chaotic. The words efficiency and India cannot
share the same sentence. No matter where you are in the country or whatever
you’re doing, India presents a smorgasbord of sights, tastes, fragrances and
experiences; nothing in India is, or ever can be, predictable. In many ways
that’s one of the charms of this fascinating country, but it’s important that
people know to expect that, and to prepare for it. So, tackling an ultra in
this part of the world should be no different – prepare for the unexpected!
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The ridgeline above the salt flats (pic by Tarmo Vannas fb.me/ultratarmo) |
I went into this race with a healthy dose
of that approach. I’d done what research I could on what weather and
temperatures to expect, I had a rough idea how the route profile would pan out
(described by the race director as a lot of up and down in certain sections,
with about 60km or so of salt flats in the middle section).
As always, I planned my nutrition and
hydration accordingly. Knowing from the race briefing that there’d be CPs roughly
every 10km, I carried two 500ml soft flasks, which I would top up or refill
with water at every CP, and add my PeptoSport every third or fourth CP. Not
wanting to rely on food provided by the CPs (oranges, glucose powder, cereal
bars and, every so often, portions of curry J), I carried my usual variety of RUSH Bars, nuts, apricots and my
favourite recent discovery: pretzel squares injected with peanut butter. The
bomb!
Never thinking I would need it, I poured
about 200ml of water into the bladder of my Salomon 12L Skin pack as reserve.
So I was as prepared as I could be,
garnished with a generous dose of open-mindedness for whatever might be thrown
at me over the next +/-24 hours. That’s roughly how long I’d guessed this race
would take me… Little did I realise what
was to come!
With the 7:30am start of the race began a
100 mile event that is best described as less of a running race and more an
orienteering adventure – and a great one, at that. An exquisite route of harsh,
desert terrain flecked with loose shale and high sandstone ridges and cliffs,
overlooking hundreds of kilometres of shimmering “white desert” – coarsely
crusted salt as far as the eye could see.
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Thorns everywhere, just waiting to snag us (pic by Tarmo Vannas) |
And the sharper side of the scene: thorns,
thorns and more thorns. Long straight ones, short hooked ones, thorns on trees,
bushes and branches that were just waiting to snag skin and fabric at every
turn. And if all those thorns weren’t enough of a spikey deal to contend with,
thorny twigs lying in the sand stabbed the soles of our shoes and spiked our feet
more times than I could count.
A missing CP5 threw the runners a curveball
of 20km with no water in the heat of the day, testing stamina, endurance and
mental strength. CP6 at 50km was a welcome sight for everyone, some runners
needing a couple of hours in the tent to rehydrate and recover before pushing
on.
Til that point I had run mostly on my own,
with only Dan and Damian ahead. I’d been trailed by a determined local runner
who was carrying nothing but a GPS – no pack, no food, no water. As the kilometres
without water had ticked past, he’d dropped off the pace, and by the time he
reached CP6, he was exhausted.
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Damian and I - in perfect sync |
Damian and I teamed up from CP6, and together
we ran, walked, bushwhacked and winced our way over the next 120km to the
finish line. (The total distance of the race was actually 172km.) Damian had run
the first 52km with frontrunner Dan Lawson, who had paused briefly at CP6 to
quickly refuel, before racing on.
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(pic by Tarmo Vannas fb.me/ultratarmo) |
Running across the salt flats was the most
incredible experience. The salt was a thin crusted layer and very crunchy
underfoot – sometimes smooth, often rippled, and surprisingly easy to run on. In
the moonlight it took on a misty white hue that made the experience seem surreal.
It looked like an enormous sheet of ice, but was neither slippery nor cold – I
had to keep reminding myself it was salt!
Twenty-four hours ticked by when we still
had a good 30km to go. We pressed on, cursing our way through thickets of
thorns, and eventually onto open tracks. Not having expected to be taking quite
this long, my food stocks were running low and with 20km to go, I was down to
one last portion of PeptoSport and a ziplock bag of nuts – which I somehow
managed to spill as I pulled the bag from my pack, showering the sandy track
with precious nuts…
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Dan is known as "Awesome Lawson" - not without reason! |
Needless to say, with minimal fuel in the
tank and nothing but water to be had at the final three CPs, those last 20km
were extremely slow. Damian and I crossed the finish line in joint 2nd
place (32:30), more than 8 hours after the winner, Dan Lawson (24:06). Dan ran
a brilliant race, a true reflection of the incredible endurance athlete he is.
Not without its organisational hiccups, Run
The Rann 161km was a fantastic experience and one I’ll always treasure. Staging
a race in a remote area of a country that in itself is not geared up for
endurance events, will always be a challenge. But this race has the potential
to be big on the adventure running calendar – it’s perfect for trail runners
who’re keen to travel and experience a whole lot more than just an ultra-distance
run. It’s rough, raw and packed with adventure. Personally, this is my kind of
race!
View the results of Run The Rann 2015
HERE